1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an editing apparatus, an editing method, and a non-volatile memory that allow the user to designate a digest portion of a program/album and the position and the period of the designated digest portion to be recorded to a management area.
2. Description of the Related Art
EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM) that is an electrically rewritable memory requires a large space because each bit is composed of two transistors. Thus, the integration of EEPROM is restricted. To solve this problem, a flash memory that allows one bit to be accomplished with one transistor using all-bit-erase system has been developed. The flash memory is being expected as a successor of conventional record mediums such as magnetic disks and optical discs.
A memory card using a flash memory is also known. The memory card can be freely attached to an apparatus and detached therefrom. A digital audio recording/reproducing apparatus that uses a memory card instead of a conventional CD (Compact Disc) or MD (Mini Disc) can be accomplished.
A conventional digital audio recording/reproducing apparatus, for example, a CD (Compact Disc) player, may have a so-called introduction scan function or music scan function that automatically and successively reproduce top portions (for around 10 seconds) of individual music programs so that the user can quickly know the contents of a CD that is being reproduced. However, such a function allows only the top portions of individual music programs to be reproduced. Thus, the user cannot sometimes know the contents or features of individual music programs.
In addition, a reproducing apparatus that reproduces a designated digest portion of a desired music program of a video CD has been proposed. Since a video CD is a reproduction-only disc, a digest portion designated by a producer (who is a contents holder or a record company) is pre-recorded. In other words, the user cannot designate his or her desired digest portion for a video CD.
Alternatively, digest portions of music programs of discs designated by the user may be stored in a non-volatile memory disposed in a disc reproducing apparatus. In this case, the digest portions of the music programs are correlated with identifiers of the discs as a table. The correlated table is stored in the non-volatile memory. With reference to the identifier of a disc loaded to the reproducing apparatus and the table stored in the non-volatile memory, a relevant digest portion is reproduced.
However, since the digest information is not recorded on a disc, it is necessary to reference the table stored in the non-volatile memory of the reproducing apparatus. Thus, the process of the microcomputer of the apparatus becomes heavy. As a result, it takes a long time to reproduce the relevant digest portion.
In addition, conventionally, digest information of each album is not recorded, but each music program.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a non-volatile memory and a recording/reproducing apparatus that allow the user to designate index information of music programs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a non-volatile memory having a variable compression ratio so as to allow digest portions of a plurality of albums to be recorded along with contents of a plurality of discs.
A first aspect of the present invention is an editing apparatus for editing a digest portion of a program recorded on a non-volatile memory, comprising an input means for allowing the user to input a start position and an end position of the digest portion, a generating means for generating a start address and digest period information of the digest portion corresponding to the start address and the end position, and a recording means for recording the start address and the digest period information of the digest portion to the non-volatile memory.
A second aspect of the present invention is an editing method for editing a digest portion of a program recorded on a non-volatile memory, comprising the steps of causing the user to input a start position and an end position of the digest portion, generating a start address and digest period information of the digest portion corresponding to the start position and the end position, and recording the start address and the digest period information of the digest portion to the non-volatile memory.
A third aspect of the present invention is a non-volatile memory for recording a program composed of a plurality of blocks, wherein one of the plurality of blocks is used as an attribute information area for attribute information, wherein each of the other blocks is composed of a header portion and a main data portion, and wherein a start address and digest period information of a digest portion designated by the user is written to the attribute information area.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of a best mode embodiment thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.